School uniform and benefits

BigAunty

debrag wrote: »

I'm 5ft 2in, 38 D, size 16-18 and fat.

Well, I was a size 16 but happily I'm 5ft 6", similar bust size but too old fashioned to publicly declare it, and now a size 12-14.

At the OPs daughter's age I was about 5 ft, 7 stone and a 32a...

My school uniform, at a senior school that just stipulated colours of clothing (white or blue shirts, black, grey or navy trousers/skirts) and didn't have blazers or badges, came from hand me down shirts from my brother, the local market and a charity shop (and both my parents worked!).

BigAunty

Actually, I quite admire some of the schemes that parents or schools have set up to receive and distribute donated clothing or sell/exchange, there seems something very proactive, environmentally friendly and budget conscious about it. Obviously, social media and the internet make information sharing much easier these days.

When I was at school, I always felt really, really ashamed about the hand me downs, made and donated clothing and the charity shop clothes I had to wear. I wasn't directly teased or anything, I just felt dirty and scruffy in them. The clothes always felt soiled or inferior.

Now, I'm at ease with buying myself second hand clothing off ebay and in charity shops, perhaps because of the rise of recycling and so on, or perhaps because I am not so desperately desiring of new things as when I was teenager, possibly because I can choose to do this rather than being compelled to suffer it.

I didn't know that some schools or councils gave grants or kept spare/donated items to give to poor pupils, I thought all that kind of thing went out of the window with the introduction of child tax credits. But I'm heartened to see the various types of schemes that are in place to save parents money.

plum2002

BigAunty wrote: »

Actually, I quite admire some of the schemes that parents or schools have set up to receive and distribute donated clothing or sell/exchange, there seems something very proactive, environmentally friendly and budget conscious about it. Obviously, social media and the internet make information sharing much easier these days.

When I was at school, I always felt really, really ashamed about the hand me downs, made and donated clothing and the charity shop clothes I had to wear. I wasn't directly teased or anything, I just felt dirty and scruffy in them. The clothes always felt soiled or inferior.

Now, I'm at ease with buying myself second hand clothing off ebay and in charity shops, perhaps because of the rise of recycling and so on, or perhaps because I am not so desperately desiring of new things as when I was teenager, possibly because I can choose to do this rather than being compelled to suffer it.

I didn't know that some schools or councils gave grants or kept spare/donated items to give to poor pupils, I thought all that kind of thing went out of the window with the introduction of child tax credits. But I'm heartened to see the various types of schemes that are in place to save parents money.

The PTSA at my eldests school is very active one of the things it does is sells donated second hand uniform, the money raised goes to a fund used to feed children who don't have lunch money/packed lunch, or bus fare to get home etc

Zziggi

My children's school collect any unwanted/outgrown uniform at the end if each summer term to send to a partner school in Africa. Obviously a noble and charitable act..... Except it has never seemed to crossed any of the staff's minds that perhaps there are poor children IN THE SCHOOL whose parents would gladly buy or accept 2nd hand uniform for their children.

gemini12

Judging by the demands for money that my granddaughters school have made for money for this that and the other I dont think that some schools have any concept of the fact that many parents are on a tight budget.
Uniform is only the start of it. For instance educational trips were free now these are charged for even when required for exam work. A friend with a daughter at the same school tells me that GCSE books now have to be purchased in several cases. When the year started in Sept. she had approx £100 to pay for various things in advance just for educational things

For anyone reading this with under school age children please dont think education is free in this country.

princessdon

We pay £250 per term junior school and £500 per term high school to school fund (uniforms are not too bad). They charge £5 for a badge and school supplies are ok.

They don't support donating items - free cycle does that, but families who don't pay into the "voluntary" school fund are limited as this fund pays for a lot and so stigmas do occur.

I'd say they are passive aggressive in the approach to discourage low income families.

Zziggi

I've found lately, when demands for money come home (no mention of the "voluntary" aspect in the correspondence - I thought they were legally obliged to make this clear), that reminding the school of the EXTRA funding they receive over and above what they normally receive per pupil in the form of the pupil premium helps to keep them from demanding extra payments.


A recent example has been a letter demanding payment for an essential book for a GCSE subject. Firstly if it is "essential" then schools are obliged to provide it but secondly, surely this is exactly what the pupil premium should be used for (trying to narrow the gap in attainment for FSM children & the "normal" school population etc etc etc). I was told no on both counts. So I asked for an explanation of exactly what my child's pupil premium was being used for. Book came home with child few days later. Not sure if it was provided by the school due to being essential or through the pupil premium.

Dunroamin

Unfortunately, many families are no longer prepared to make sacrifices to support their children's education, despite the government providing the funds to do so.

satarical

BigAunty wrote: »

My school uniform, at a senior school that just stipulated colours of clothing (white or blue shirts, black, grey or navy trousers/skirts) and didn't have blazers or badges, came from hand me down shirts from my brother, the local market and a charity shop (and both my parents worked!).

Well then you didn't go to a grammar school then!

My grand daughter aged 12 has to have everything according to the school rules.
In addition she is obliged to contribute fully in all school trips. So far over the next two weeks she will be visiting a theatre in the West End of London to have a guided tour and meet the performers at a cost of £65, then she has a day trip to Oxford to see and be involved in a current archeological dig being carried out by one of the university colleges in Oxford at a cost of £135

This year's annual year trip is to New York for a week. Last year they went to Berlin for a week.

Lou76

Saturnalia wrote: »

The OP said her daughter had a DD cup bust. That could quite reasonably make her a size 18 on the top half without her necessarily being fat elsewhere. If she also has hips in proportion, that would be why little-girl-shaped trousers & skirts don't fit her either.

Are you kidding?

I'm a DD, but a size 10.

Granted, I don't like wearing fitted blouses, as the buttons [at my bust] tend to bulge/pop open, unless I wear a 12, but I can assure you the cup size doesn't determine the clothes size - well, not so much as to make me 4 sizes bigger. :eek: